


What Day Is It Again?

by lalahss



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Birthday Party, F/M, Fish, Fish Themed Birthday Party, Fluff, Miscommunication, Present Tense, Sylvain/Felix and Mercedes/Ingrid subtext, anti-fish seteth, anti-hubert (very sorry hubert stans I love him but he does not love flayn), bonding over a fish cake, silly shy flayn and ashe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-29 22:03:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21417388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalahss/pseuds/lalahss
Summary: After a telling off from Seteth, Flayn has resolved to not talk about fish around her classmates. However, everyone acting strangely makes Flayn worried that her fish talk has made them all hate her... do they? Or is there something fishy going on?
Relationships: Flayn/Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert
Kudos: 13





	What Day Is It Again?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This was a warm up for me, but ended up turning into an adorable little story. Hope you all enjoy it!

Flayn adores fish. To her, nothing makes her week more exciting than catching, cooking, and eating fish. While it seems eccentric to most of the students and staff at Garreg Mach monastery, it’s merely second nature to her.

“Flayn,” her older brother Seteth had asked her, exasperated, earlier that day. “Must you always talk about fish?”

“Whatever is the matter, brother?” Flayn responded sweetly, looking up from a book about carp. 

“I have heard people around the monastery talking about how you talk about nothing but fish. It is… worrying.”

“But I love them!” Flayn closed her book and frowned. “It is like Hanneman and his Crest research, or Manuela and her singing.”

“The difference is, Manuela does not sing all over the castle, nor does Hannem– ah, never mind. Anyway, your classmates are worried.”

“Byleth goes fishing with me however, and she doesn’t mind.”

“Professor Byleth also goes around the monastery finding lost items for students, no matter how nonsensical said items may be or long it may take. Point being, she does not mind, while the other students do.” He gave her a weak smile, and said, “could you please try not talking about fish for a while?”

“Okay, brother…” Flayn gave Seteth a despondent look, and Seteth looked back in kind, sternly.

“I want you to fit in, that’s all.”

“I know.” 

Fast forward to now, where she’s in the common room with the Blue Lions. Remembering Seteth’s warnings, she looks around the corridor as everyone goes to their various rooms. Dimitri and Dedue are walking together, and Dimitri gives her a sideways glance, his feet picking up as he goes into his room. She wonders why, but dismisses her worries.

“Flayn!” Ah, there’s the sound of someone! Flayn turns around, and is faced with a very bubbly Annette.

“Good day, Annette!” Flayn grins, and marvels at her hair. It sits in its tight coils, and she wonders if Annette would tire of her saying how much her hair reminds her of fishing nets.

“I was wondering, could you could possibly help us out before class?” Annette smiles back, and gives Flayn a note. “Don’t worry, Byleth knows, and if you’re late it’s okay!”

“Oh– alright,” Flayn says curiously. “I will endeavor to get these done as soon as I can!”

“Thanks so much!” Annette sprints into the classroom, and Flayn inspects the list. It’s tightly packed, with a lot of writing.

“Flour? A white and blue tablecloth? … Many green roses?” Flayn shakes her head. “No matter, I suppose this is what I’m supposed to be doing… and it does not involve fish, so my brother will be happy.” And with that, she sets off to find the ingredients first

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

“Hnnngh!” Flayn plops a comically sized bag of sugar on the bench in the kitchen. “These look like ingredients for a cake…”

“Hey there Flayn!” A voice sounds from the back of the kitchen. Flayn peeks around the assortment of ingredients, and sees Ashe. “How are you?”

“Oh, hello Ashe!” Flayn laughs. “I am doing fine, although this list Annette gave me is awfully long…”

“Long?” Ashe comes over shyly, and peeks at the list. “Oh, well, at least you got the cooking ingredients done first.”

“Cooking? What are you cooking?”

“It’s…” Ashe blushes, and pauses. “I’m making a cake for a girl I like.”

“A girl?” Flayn giggles. “I did not think you had time for such relationships, at least while studying to become a knight!”

“She’s… special.” Ashe turns away quickly, and Flayn spies his ears starting to burn. “A truly special… wait. Aren’t you supposed to be completing your list?”

“Oh!” Flayn looks down. “Ah, yes. However, I cannot work out if I am supposed to be delivering all of these decorations first, or the plants.”

“Decorations.” Ashe immediately coughs, and then smiles as he turns towards Flayn. “Anyway, those didn’t look like decorations on the list…”

“Tablecloths and banners seem very decorative to me,” Flayn notes. “But I should get going. See you later, Ashe!”

“Uh, yes! See you!” Flayn looks back as she leaves the kitchen, and sees Ashe hurriedly grabbing the bags.

“I wonder, what he is up to…” She then immediately remembers her brother’s warning about boring the students, and sighs. “He really doesn’t like fish, does he…”

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

“Hmmph! Haaa.” Flayn finishes decorating the tables in the Blue Lions common room with various white and blue decorations. “There is clearly some kind of celebration going on, but what kind?”

“Oh!” A masculine voice sounds from behind her, and Flayn yelps. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“Felix?” Flayn turns around, and sees the swordsman himself giving her a cross look. “What did I do?”

“Nothing. I just…” He sighs. “I thought Sylvain… never mind.”

“What about Sylvain?”

“I…” Felix frowns, and looks as if he’s deep in thought. “I haven’t seen him today.”

“Well, one could assume he’s off meeting girls,” Flayn suggests. Felix creases his brow further, and Flayn gives him a look. “It is in his nature to do such things, correct?”

“Yes… but he said he’d be… by the stables. Yes.”

“Oh, shall I look for him?”

“After you’ve finished your list, please do.”

“Okay…” She goes to the doorway, and her heart sinks. Surely her talk about fish wasn’t that annoying… While leaving, she can hear Felix muttering under his breath, and quickly sets about heading to the greenhouse for the roses, lest she face his anger.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

As Flayn enters the greenhouse, she can hear two voices talking.

“She won’t get there in time unless she gets here soon!”

“She’ll be okay, don’t worry!”

“Hello?” Flayn calls out as she makes her way to the flowers, trying to peek through the bushes.

“Eek!” One of the voices calls out, and soon Mercedes emerges from a bush. “Hello Flayn!”

“I was tasked to come here by Annette for some… roses, tulips, and other flowers to bring to Dedue?”

“Well, that sounds about right!” Mercedes laughs, and Flayn immediately feels at ease. “Dedue’s been bus–”

“Flayn, hello.” Ingrid immediately jumps out of the bush next to Mercedes, and gives a slightly strained smile. “Change in plans. We can deliver the flowers, you just need to go and… go fishing. That should be fun for you, right?”

Flayn immediately feels Seteth’s voice in her head, telling her not to mention fish. No fish, no fish, no fish… You need to fit in…

“I can come with you if you want!” Mercedes offers. “We can get some fish, and then we can show the other Blue Lions our catches!”

“Ummm…” Flayn hesitates, and looks at the ground.

“What’s wrong?” Mercedes can see straight through her, and Flayn bites her lip. “You were talking with me yesterday about fishing, and about this lovely flounder you’d found.”

“I- I…” Flayn looks around frantically, and spies the roses. “Here are the roses!” They hung off the bush looking green and perfectly packaged.

“Flayn?” Ingrid asks suspiciously.

“And the tulips!”

“Oh no,” Mercedes whispers to Ingrid. “Did we make a mistake?”

“I think I know what happened,” Ingrid whispers back. “Flayn, don’t panic okay? You don’t have to fish…”

“And here! And here!” She grabs more flowers, and by the time she’s standing in front of the two girls she has two arms full of flowers.

“Flayn, thank you, but…”

“It’s fine!” Flayn shouts as she runs out of the greenhouse, feeling tears prickling her eyes. Why would they mention the one thing she can’t talk about?

As Flayn was out of earshot, Ingrid huffs. “I hate those Black Eagles, and I wish they’d stop being so rude to Flayn.”

“Do you think they did it?” Mercedes says softly.

“I wouldn’t be shocked if they were bullying her. But no, she doesn’t know. She’s acting too adorably.”

“Fair…” Mercedes giggles. “She is quite adorable, isn’t she?”

“Very.”

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Flayn’s blind panic fuels her as she runs, and it’s not until she hits Sylvain on his way out of the stables when she realises she’s out of breath and terrified.

“Oh, hey Flayn,” Sylvain says smoothly. “This is a meet cute and a half–”

“Syl– Sylvain. Please,” Flayn sniffles. “Tell me the truth, okay?”

“Oh sh– I mean, yeah, sure!” Sylvain immediately looks stressed, but Flayn’s tears hide his suddenly evasive posture. "You can ask me anything."

Flayn pauses before speaking. “Am I truly annoying when I speak of fish?”

“Wha– no!” Sylvain suddenly tenses, then relaxes and laughs, letting out a massive chuckle. “Aww Flayn, you’re too cute. Is that it?"

“Sylvain, I have been informed that my interest in fish has made me an annoyance towards my fellow students. Is this… true?”

“No! No way!” Sylvain grins goofily, and Flayn returns a smile through her tears. “You’re very sweet when you talk about… koi?”

“Indeed!” Flayn cheers. “You have finally stopped calling them ‘boys!’”

“You like kois, I like boys. Hey.”

“I suppose so! But… why has everyone been avoiding me today?” Flayn frowned, and slumped her shoulders. "It is most unlike you all. Even Dimitri... he usually says hello to me in the mornings, but he walked past so quickly this morning."

“Well… everyone's been studying really hard, I guess...” Sylvain looks up at the sun. “Anyway, not to change the subject, but it’s kind of close to lunch, isn’t it? We should go to the common room.”

“But we have lunch in the dining hall,” Flayn comments.

“Yeah… uh… I forgot my sword!”

“For lunch?”

“Let’s go, okay?” Sylvain darts off, and Flayn quickly follows him. "I don't want to be too late!"

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

As Sylvain and Flayn round the corner to the common room, Sylvain turns around and puts a finger to his lips and motions Flayn to wait. He pokes his head in, and then gives Flayn a nod. Flayn goes through the door with him, very confused, until she sees the room.

A big banner saying “Happy birthday Flayn” was across the room, and there were tables and tables filled with seafood dishes. But right in the centre was a big fish cake, and Ashe standing behind it proudly. Ingrid and Mercedes were standing around some flower arrangements, and Felix was secretly eating sashimi when nobody was looking.

“She’s here!” Ashe shouts as soon as he sees her, and then the room suddenly breaks into a very out of tune rendition of “happy birthday.” Flayn grins as Sylvain’s very loud voice starts cracking, and Ashe goes red as he notices Flayn looking at only him. As soon as the song ends, Flayn giggles and runs up to Ashe.

“Ashe, you said that you were making this cake for a girl you like,” Flayn said questioningly. “But this seems like my birthday cake?”

Ashe abruptly turns pink from tip to toe. “It is.”

“Is it for me?”

“Yes.” His voice drops off at the end, and Flayn blushes.

“That was very sweet of you,” Flayn whispers to him.

“Happy happy birthday!” Annette says with a giggle as she comes up to the pair. “Did you forget it was your birthday?”

“I have had many birthda– actually,” she catches herself, “sometimes I forget.”

“Awwww, you don’t need to worry! We remembered, and Seteth mentioned to Byleth that he’d gotten you a present…”

“Is it a fish?!” Flayn says very excitedly.

“Flayn, what did I tell you about fish?”

“Br– Brother?” Flayn jumps around, to see Seteth standing behind her, Ashe pointedly behind him.

“Your classmates are tired of fish, and it seems very kind of them to have a birthday party revolving around fish.” Flayn spies Ingrid and Mercedes looking worried, and she frowns.

“But Sylvain said he did not mind talking about fish! And Mercedes wanted to go fishing with me!”

“And that comment sounds exactly like something Hubert would say,” Dimitri said, suddenly appearing next to Seteth. “Flayn is a dear member of our house, and we love spending time with her. When she talks about fish, it’s like when Felix talks about strategy, or when Ingrid tells off Sylvain for flirting. It’s endearing, and we love having her with us.”

“Oh!” Seteth’s jaw goes slack, and then he straightens himself up. “Yes, I was informed by Hubert himself about it, but I should have talked to you all first.” He gives Flayn an apologetic look, and says, “I’m sorry Flayn. I should have checked with your house members before telling you to stop.”

Flayn frowns, and Ashe takes this moment to stand next to Flayn. “I love hearing about Flayn and her fish, and if I may, I’d like to let us celebrate Flayn’s birthday before we do anything else.”

“Ashe, thank you,” Flayn says sweetly, “and I agree. I’d love to sample your cake!”

“Well, you do get first slice, birthday girl.” They both go towards the cake, and Flayn’s vaguely aware of Seteth asking Dimitri why the two of them are going off, and Dimitri’s vaguely pleasing answer. “Tell me what you think!”

Flayn bites into the cake, and sighs. “Delicious!”

“I’m glad!” Ashe grins, and shyly looks away when Flayn meets his eyes. “I mean… I hoped you’d like it…”

“Do you like me a lot, Ashe?”

“Well… since you got kidnapped, I’ve worried about you, and when we started sparring together I kind of found you cute…”

Flayn takes Ashe’s hand in hers, and he stops, a bit giddy and quite nervous. “I hope we can be sparring partners into the future then,” she says quietly, so as not to let anyone else hear.

“I was… if you wouldn’t be against it, would you like to be my sparring partner, and my girlfriend?”

Flayn giggles, attracting the attention of Sylvain and Felix, both lining up for cake. “I would be delighted to!”

“That’s… that’s great!” Ashe gives her a smile, and Flayn finds herself blushing at his eagerness.

“What’s going on, lovebirds?” Sylvain says jokingly, only to be met with the sharp end of Felix’s elbow. “Ow!”

“Let them eat their cake in peace.” Felix starts cutting Sylvain a piece, and at that, Flayn and Ashe retreat to the corner of the common room, surrounded by green roses and their friends.

“Do you know where those two are?” Ingrid asks Dedue as they clean up the room.

“In the corner,” Dedue says quietly. Ingrid goes over, and grins widely. “What is it?”

“They look so adorable,” Ingrid cooes, and as Dedue goes over, he notices Flayn’s head in the crook of Ashe’s shoulder and their hands intertwined.

“I hope they’re both happy for a long time to come,” Dedue says, looking at them happily.

“I’m sure they will be,” Ingrid agrees. “In any case, shall we put the paper fish in Flayn’s quarters?”

“Yes, she’ll appreciate them.”

That night, Flayn would fall asleep next to a multitude of origami fish, and have dreams of Ashe and her under the sea. When she would wake up, she would immediately find Ashe to tell him, and he would laugh as she would tell him about the dolphins they rode, and whales they befriended. It would be the start of a long-lasting, loving relationship, as well as spawn a few more fish cakes.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this story, make sure you eat some fish because it contains some really good oils! Other than that, please stay hydrated and well :)


End file.
